Day 9, April 9th: The Hell Pools

We were up at 5:30 on Monday morning, got organized and had our Japanese style breakfast at a western table to make it more comfortable for mom's knees.

I was really loving those Japanese breakfasts.

The ryokan (inn) was kind enough to hold our suitcases for us while we went on our outing for the day.  We walked to the Beppu Station.

Unfortunately, they are having problems with crows there.  Neat plastic bags of garbage had been attacked by the giant birds and trash littered the sidewalks.

 We were able to catch a bus at the Beppu Station for the Jigoku (Hell) Pools. This is a hot springs area with lots of thermal activity.

There was some erroneous information that was given to us saying that we would not be able to walk to the thermal pools.  You can walk to see seven of them.  We didn't think we needed to see the two that were farther away.

I got this from the Japan Rail website:

The "hells" (jigoku) of Beppu are nine spectacular hot springs for viewing rather than bathing. They are presented to visitors in a rather touristy fashion, which might not appeal to everybody. Seven of the hells are located in the Kannawa district and two in the more remote Shibaseki district. 

One of the Hell pool sites had a mini zoo with flamingos, peacocks and a hippo who kept his mouth open for you to buy food to throw in.  There was also a pool site that had a LOT of very dangerous looking crocodiles.  They said the steam in the area made them thrive.

Oh yes, it's definitely touristy and maybe even a little silly, but it was still fun.

This photo is just to show the general atmosphere of the area.

The pool areas were given names like Shiraike Jigoku (White Pond Hell), Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell), Yama Jigoku (Mountain Hell), etc.

The boiling mud reminded me of Yellowstone National Park in miniature.

Mom saw this unusual flower decorating a walkway area.

I think this was the Mountain Hell.

It was all fun in a sort of theme park sort of a way until we came to this part of the Hell Pool Area.  This was certainly not hell; more like heaven!  Cherry blossoms were blooming everywhere and the water was this phosphorescent green.

It was enchanting!

It made the whole trip worthwhile just to see this.

At this pool they were boiling eggs dropped down from a bamboo pole and sold to anyone who wanted to try them.

The red torii left you no doubt that you were in Japan.

Then there was this reddish boiling mud.

They also had a little conservatory with tropical plants and water lilies.  Too bad the bananas were green.  I didn't see any papayas.

One of the best things we did was to have another soft serve.  This was strawberry and vanilla.  Not unusual, but yummy and perfect for the day.

And here's the last photo of the Jigoku pools.  This time it was gray boiling mud.  I have more photos, but I'll spare you.

We left the Jigoku Pools and caught the bus back to Beppu Station.  While mom and I waited there, Art and Dennis went back to the Nogami Honkan ryokan, retrieved our suitcase and joined us at the train station for a curry lunch.

We then caught the JR train for Oita, made a transfer and arrived in Nobeoka at 2:30.  In Nobeoka, we checked in at the Route Inn Nobeoka Ekimae.  Dinner that evening was unremarkable.

Art and Dennis did laundry that night and we prepared for another early morning the next day.

Day 8, April 8th: Beppu and Yufuin

We were so tired this morning that we actually overslept!  Dennis had to knock on our door to wake us up for breakfast at 7:00. 

The Nogami Honkan Onsen provided us with a lavish Japanese breakfast.  There was a choice of Japanese or European.  It was a wonderful Japanese experience, but sitting on the floor was difficult for Mom's aching legs.  We requested a regular table for the following morning.

After breakfast, we walked about a block down the street to the famous Takegawara black sand onsen.  Mom and Dennis had said before our trip that they might be OK with doing this since they wouldn't have to remove all their clothes in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, there was a big, no-nonsense sign that said people taking high blood pressure medicine should not do the sand onsen.  We were very disappointed.  It would have to be just Art and me.

We caught the train from Beppu to Yufuin which is a popular hot spring resort town.

It was a short train ride to Yufuin.

I told mom that we have a lot of pansies in the states and that it's nothing extraordinary, but she insisted I take a photo of them.  In fact, she's gotten to like telling me what photos I should be taking.

Actually Yufuin was a bit of a disappointment.  There were long streets full of shops. I bought a little cloth hand towel because public Japanese bathrooms generally do not provide paper wipes or hand dryers.  Women carry their own small towels to wipe their hands.

We did grab a quick bowl of noodles here along with some rice balls.

It wasn't great, but it was quick, cheap and rather tasty.

We love soft serve!  We were trying to see  how many different flavors we could sample on this trip.  I think this is where Art tried soft serve with soy sauce.  Seriously!  That man will try anything once.

It had been a cold spring so cherry blossoms were delayed down south and we were treated to even more floral displays.

You can see Mt. Yufu in the background.

I think this is dogwood, but I'm not sure.

Dennis and Art were being good sports here.

This is Lake Kinrinko and the reason for this resort town.  It wasn't anything for us to write home about.  Oops!  But here I am blogging about it.

It was still fun to see what sort of things were being sold.

Returning to the Beppu Station, we got to try another hand onsen.  The water was very warm.

We returned to our Nogami Onsen ryokan (inn), put on our yukatas, and headed for the Takegawara black sand bath.  We were told to wear short little kimonos and lie down in little depressed sand beds.  Then sand was shoveled over us.  Four inches of warm sand on top of all of you can be a little heavy and I could understand why it might not be good for someone with high blood pressure.  After the 15 minute sand bath, we washed ourselves off and entered the regular warm water onsen which was quite nice.

I met a fellow, his son and daughter in the waiting room who struck up a conversation with me.  They were interested in the fact that I was from Hawaii and could speak a little Japanese.  I tried to encourage them to speak English, but they were hesitant.  It was a lot of fun learning about each other as I waited for Art.

After the sand onsen, we went back to our Nogami Ryokan.  Then Art picked up Dennis and they both went to the hotel water onsen.

Needless to say, Art came back looking red as a crab.

It was certainly an interesting day!

Day #7, April 7th: Beppu

We got up at 6:00 this time and got down to the first floor of Toyoko Inn for their breakfast.  Two years ago, their breakfasts were just tea, coffee, rice balls, miso soup and pickled vegetables.  We were delighted to find they were now offering a whole lot more.

There was a long line already forming for breakfast.

I really like having miso soup for breakfast and I quickly got used to having the rice balls.

Funny thing... even having rice or noodles with each meal, I actually lost 4 pounds during the trip.

Nobody had trouble finishing their meal.

We were out the door by 7:30 for our Shinkansen bullet trains bound for Beppu.  We asked for help from the train staff because of mom's wheelchair.

They were fabulous!  Train staff met us at each station and made sure we made the correct transfer.

This is important because we had to catch four trains.  Sendai to Tokyo to Shin Osaka to Kokura to Beppu.

I really loved this sign on the train.  How much clearer can you get?  Then again, what about the night?  Perhaps they thought NO SMOKING would seem a bit too harsh.

Japanese style squat toilets on solid ground is tricky enough, but put it on a step up on a moving train with handholds to keep you in place and you've got a challenge.

I managed... but only just.

We bought these box lunches in Sendai which was a good thing because we didn't have much transfer times to allow us to buy lunches anywhere else.

I LOVE these bento boxes!!!  In the middle row, extreme right is a pickled baby eggplant.  It was really yummy!  I even brought a package of them back with us.

After passing through a huge Sendai blizzard, sunnier skies appeared. 

Mom hoped it would be a lot warmer down south where we were headed.

We just loved the very solicitous and polite help we got at all the train stops.

I wonder how often they get to use this contraption.

We arrived in Beppu on the island of Kyushu at 5:21.  We were pretty tired after 10 hours of travel time.

This is a hand onsen (hot spring).  The water was very warm.

We love to take photos of the manhole covers in Japan.  They are all unique to each city.

Dinner was in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  Noodles.  Not very good.  I think we were spoiled in Tokyo and Sendai.

The Nogami Onsen was the best pick in the Lonely Planet travel guide.

It's a little tired with age, but was quite comfortable.  The furoba (bath tub) was deep and Dennis thought the water was also from the onsen since it was extremely hot and bubbled when it came out.

You are supposed to soap and wash yourself while sitting on the stool and then soak in the tub.  You do NOT enter the tub with a dirty body.

This hotel/onsen is also close to the sand onsen that Art wanted to try.

The futons were laid out for us before bedtime.

We were able to reserve times to go into the onsen.  This was the onsen that Dennis and Art went into.  I didn't bring a camera with me to the onsen that Mom and I reserved.

Art said their onsen was very nice.  Mom and I nearly got burned in ours before I noticed the cold water pipe.

The air temperature was pretty cold so we were chilled while washing ourselves and then the water was so hot we ended up looking like lobsters when we came out.

The onsen provided yukatas (cotton kimonos) for us to wear to bed.  They're not all that easy to sleep in, but it's fun.

I took a photo of Art, but he doesn't want me to post it.  He doesn't think lavender is quite his color.

As you can see, Dennis and Art have energy to spare.  Here they are doing the laundry and you can see what the time is on the wall.

It was quite an exhausting day!